Now listen to part of a lecture in a business class.
(male professor): Allright, so I actually saw a good example of this just the other day: I watched an advertisement on television about a well known companies pots and pans, and in the advertisement there was a woman, a professional cook, talking about how she uses the companies pots and pans in her own kitchen. Now the woman in the advertisement began by saying that this company's pots and pans were expensive. She just came right out and admitted to the audience that they cost a lot more than most other companies pots and pans. And she also said that she realized that when people went shopping for new cookware, they might feel that they just didn't want to spend all that money on such expensive pots and pans since there were so many in the store that cost a lot less.But then, she went on to explain that the extra cost was worthwhile, because, although these pots and pans cost more to begin with, they actually saved you money in the long run. How? Well, they came with a special lifetime warranty, which meant that the company would replace them free if anything ever went wrong, and that’s something most companies that make pots and pans couldn't say about their products.
Explain how the example of the television advertisement for pots and pans from the lecture illustrates the technique of refute and persuade.
Refute-and-persuade is one way companies often use to reduce the negative impression that consumers have on their products. That is, they first admit the disadvantages of their products and then challenge themselves by demonstrating how the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. For example, there's a kind of pots and pans that are very expensive, so in its commercial, the spokeswoman, a professional cook first admits that the pots and pans are indeed very expensive, which is the "refute". But then she goes on to persuade the audience by demonstrating that they're actually not that expensive as they can help save money in the long run. This is because products of their brand last longer and they have life-warranty that allows the consumers to have free replacement if anything's wrong with their products, but this is something other brand products cannot provide. In this way, the woman can successfully persuade the consumer to buy the pots and pans of this brand. (129 words)
